The Minimized D6 Star Wars Skill List
Dex
Blaster - this covers all guns
Dodge - defense vs. ranged attacks
Fighting - HTH combat
Thievery - all manual pickpockety type skills
Knowledgde
Cultures - races and clans and nations - the people
Planets - the geography/astrography parts - the places
Streetwise - knowledge of the underworld
Survival - knowledge of the wilderness
Bureaucracy - knowledge of governments
Business - knowledge of corporations
Mechancial
Ship Pilot - all ships
Ship Systems - shields, sensors, communications, whatever
Ship Gunnery - all ship guns
Repulsorlift Ops - driving for anti-grav vehicles
Beast Riding - driving for animals
Ground Vehicle Ops - driving for wheeled/tracked/hover/walker vehicles
Vehicle Systems - sensors, shields, communications, etc.
Perception
Persuasion - convincing people to do things
Willpower - keeping people from convincing you to do things
Stealth - sneaking past people
Search - keeping people from sneaking past you
Strength
Athletics - climbing/swimming/running/jumping
Stamina - how long you can do things like the above
Technical
Ship Tech - fix ships
Vehicle Tech - fix vehicles
Personal Tech - fix personal equipment
Droid Tech - program and fix droids and computers
Demolition - blowing stuff up
Medicine - people tech, for fixing people
Security Systems - the electronic version of Thievery
Bonus:
Control
Sense
Alter
Yeah, they stay separate - it might help keep some balance in there.
...and there you go. A vastly whittled down skill list that will make characters much more broadly capable. Most of the more active skills can be used as opposed rolls - Stealth vs. Search, Persuasion vs. Willpower, Blaster vs. Dodge. It means a lot less aggravation when no one has the particular skill needed but it allows you to keep using the existing system framework. I'd consider cutting the initial skill allocation down to say, 5D instead of 7, but even keeping 7D could work if you look at it as making more experienced characters than before.
This caters to a more loose style of game and is probably very dependent on the DM's attitude towards the mechanics. At this point, I think this is the version I am most likely to use. I'll try to work in a game this weekend and see how it goes.
4 comments:
I’ve really enjoyed this whole series, even though I haven't been able to comment sooner.
Back when I played d6 I did find the skills lists rather cumbersome, and your edits feel right. The minimal d6 really appeals to my current rules light inclination too.
Are you planning on putting this together as a simple PDF that I can stick in my rulebook?
I remember 1st edition as being less cluttered and that's the feel I was initially gong for. Even that though feels heavy to me nowadays and that's what spurred the minimal list. I have saga edition for when I want some crunchiness, but I'd like a quick and dirty option for one-shots and less planned games.
I'm not sure theres enough to justify a separate PDF of these but let me see what I can do.
2nd edition was awful, "fixing" nonexistent problems. Adding crunch for RPGers who like complicated ganes. Yuck.
About the time I saw that they had added skills to design starships into the skill list I dropped my teeth - what is this, Star Trek? Traveller? This is supposed to be adventure and action, not a technical exercise.
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